#GC2018 Day One: Welsford Wins Commonwealth Gold
The 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games are off to a flying start and our Western Australian athletes have well and truly made their mark bringing home both a gold and a bronze medal on day one of competition.
CYCLING – TRACK
WAIS cyclist and Rio Olympian, Sam Welford competed in the Men’s 4000m Team Pursuit which took on England in the final.
After breaking the Games Record in the preliminary round with a time of 3:52.04, the Australians took it one step further in the final, breaking the world record and in turn setting another Games Record with a time of 3:49.804.
Strong efforts from every team member meant that they were able to claim Australia’s second gold medal of the Games.
SWIMMING
In the pool Blair Evans left no stone unturned powering home to claim the bronze medal in the Women’s 400m Individual Medley.
Having touched in fifth at the 300m mark Evans was going to have to produce an exceptional swim to get in to the medal rankings.
Freestyle being her most comfortable stroke, Blair used this to her advantage slowly gaining ground on her competition to finish the race in third place with a time of 4:38.23.
Earlier in the day the individual medley swimmer came second in her heat with a time of 4:41.54.
Starting the day off with a bang, Games debutant Brianna Throssell claimed first place in her heat of the Women’s 100m Butterfly with a time of 58.96.
Backing up her performance in the evening’s semi-finals Throssell glided home in a time of 58.38 seconds to finish third.
This time qualifies Brianna for the 100m Butterfly final which will take place tomorrow evening.
19-year-old George Harley made his Commonwealth Games debut competing in the Men’s 200m Breaststroke.
A valiant effort saw him finish fifth in his heat with a time of 2:11.62.
NETBALL
The Australian Diamonds have once again proven why Australia is the number one netball nation in the world, convincingly defeating Northern Ireland 94-26.
Western Australian shooter and team captain Caitlin Bassett started in goal shooter, helping her side pull away to an early lead by providing a strong target underneath the post.
Continuously outscoring their opposition by fourteen goals or more in each quarter, Diamonds Head Coach Lisa Alexander felt comfortable in the ability of all of her players making a number of positional changes throughout the game.
Defender Courtney Bruce made her Commonwealth Games debut, entering the game in goal keeper at half time.
She had an immediate impact halting Northern Ireland’s attacking flow, forcing a number of turnovers.
Day two of the Games will see Cam Gliddon compete with the Boomers against Canada, Courtney Bruce and Caitlin Bassett take on Barbados in the netball and Brianna Throssell contest the final of the Women’s 100m Butterfly.
- Annika Lee-Jones